Coraline: Things Are Not As They Seem
by Juliegirl22
Summary: Coraline has defeated the Beldam and life is back to normal. But her parents start to act weird. They grow more distant, start to fight, and end up getting violent. Coraline misses her old life, and is terrified of what her family is turning into. Just when she thinks things can't get any worse, the Beldam returns, but not for the reason Coraline thinks...Rated T: abuse, drugs.
1. Chapter 1

**Coraline: Things Are Not As They Seem**

Coraline lay in bed, early morning sunshine seeping through the curtains. She had just awoken from the most horrible dream.

The Beldam had been following her. Coraline had been in some sort of shadowy mist world. She couldn't see anything around her, just swirling grayish white mist, until the Beldam came…

She had come, nine feet tall, swirling snake like hair, black button eyes glinting horribly. Coraline had run into the nothingness around her, hoping to escape, but no matter how fast she ran and regardless of which direction in the emptiness she took, the Beldam was constantly right behind her.

Coraline suddenly saw something in the mist before her. Other people. She hesitated, but then figured it couldn't be worse than the atrocity behind her.

She darted forward, and saw the welcoming figure of her parents, standing there, looking at her.

"Coraline, we've done a bad thing, and it can't be changed," they said.

"What?" Coraline was baffled. That made no sense. "Please help me, Mum and Dad! The Beldam, she's behind me."

"We can't help you," they said, looking at her. "We've become a danger, to us and you."

"No-WAIT!"

Her parents were turning, and disappearing into the mist.

"Coooraaliine. Waaaiiiit!"

Coraline felt the tips of the Beldams pointy nails scratch her shoulders. Coraline stiffened and could hardly even get a scream out. The tips ran up her neck, sending horrible chills down her spine. A hand clenched her shoulder and tugged. She would be pulled down and the Beldam would sew buttons onto her eyes. NO! NO! NO!

Her whole body seemed to refuse to respond.

_Forward, run, just run._

Coralines brain suddenly regained control and Coraline darted into the mist, then realized she was falling…falling…falling…

"Corrraaaliiinee. Waiiiitt! Pleeeaassseee."

Suddenly and unfamiliar, male voice, laughed wickedly in the background.

Coraline had awoken in a cold sweat and now she lay in bed, trying to forget it, but she couldn't. She looked at her alarm clock. It was a bit too early to be up. Her parents wouldn't even be up yet. But there was no way she could go back to sleep.

She got up and padded to the kitchen, her fuzzy slippers making soft noises on the floor.

She went to the cupboard and found the tin of coffee and spooned some into the coffee maker. She'd seen her parents make it enough to know how to do it. She added in extra because she decided to have a cup of coffee herself. She added water and turned it on.

Pretty soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of coffee. Coraline grabbed the paper from the near the front door outside and then poured herself a cup. She added in some flavored creamer and tasted it. Not enough. She added more. Much better!

She sat drinking it. Normally, her parents would never allow her to drink coffee because they said it stunted a kid's growth, but she was really tired. She felt like she hadn't slept at all. She definitely needed some caffeine otherwise she would fall asleep in class and end up with detention most likely. Teachers acted like falling asleep in class was the worst sin in the world. Coraline realized it was disrespectful, but sometimes it's hard to stay awake and when the teacher is droning on about something boring and you didn't sleep well.

Coraline read the comics in the paper and finished her coffee and washed the cup out. She felt much better and awake.

She had the same dream the next night.

She awoke after it, scared and went to the kitchen where her mother was cooking breakfast.

"Can I have some coffee?" she asked. Since her mother was up, she knew she should ask before getting a cup. But she had a feeling she knew what the answer was.

"No, silly," said her mother. "You'll stunt your growth."

"Please! I'm so tired, I didn't sleep well," she pleaded.

"No, caffeine is bad for kids," her mother answered, sounding tired and annoyed.

"Aw, but Mum!"

"No buts, eat your eggs."

Her mother made herself a cup of coffee and added a bit of clear liquid from a small bottle, and then stuck it back into the cupboard, in the top shelf. Coraline wondered what it was.

Coraline went to school, tired, and had to struggle to keep awake.

Their English teacher was assigning a new project.

"Were going to practice writing short stories," she said, and a couple of boys in the back groaned. "No groaning! As I said, to practice our writing, we're going to write a short story. Now everybody get into groups of four to brainstorm. You must each write a separate story, but you can give each other ideas. I expect an outline by the end of class. If, when you get home, you decided to change your story idea, you can, but you must bring a well done outline to class and show it to me so I know your writing about something else.

They got into groups that the teacher assigned. Coraline found herself with three of the popular girls.

Coraline smiled and said hi and the girls returned it, but after that, they rather excluded her. Coraline tried to brainstorm with them, but they only replied with rather vague answers, like "Sure, like, I guess," and "If you want to write about that."

Coraline gave up and wrote ideas on her paper. This was her list.

A girl lives in a haunted house.

A boy becomes a famos football player and makes milions and uses his money to end world hunger.

A man discovers a secret portal to an alternite universe and finds a land of magical creetures.

Coraline nibbled the end of her pencil while the other three girls talked and chattered animatedly to each other, passing ideas between each other, ignoring their fourth team mate. She wondered if she spelled "alternite" wrong.

She decided she didn't like any of the ideas. The haunted house one seemed to similar to what she had gone through, with the Beldam. She didn't know anything about football really, because she thought it was boring, so that idea was out. And the man discovering a portal to a world with magical creatures, seemed a bit boring. What would he do after he found the magical creatures? She couldn't see it going anywhere past that.

She thought of a story she had written the past summer, about a girl who danced and danced. What her name? Pear, orange? Coraline thought for a moment. Apple! That was it. She decided she would write about a dancing girl.

She wrote the idea down.

A girl becomes a famous ballerina and uses the money she makes to end world hunger.

She started her outline, using her best handwriting, because the teacher said they would be graded on it. She turned it in to the teacher for grading when the bell rang.

When she got home, she dug in her room until she found the old sheet of paper she had written her story on the past summer.

CORALINE'S STORY

THERE WAS A GIRL HER NAME

WAS APPLE. SHE USED TO DANCE A LOT.

SHE DANCED AND DANCED UNTIL HER FEET TURNED INTO

SOSSAJES THE END.

Coraline smiled, seeing how she misspelled sossajes. She was pretty sure it was spelled, "Sosages".

Underneath was a picture of a dancing girl.

She took the paper to her father's study.

"Hi, Dad,"

"Hi, sweetie," he answered, sounding tired.

"In English, we have to write a story," said Coraline.

"That's nice." He didn't look away from the computer, where he was typing.

"We have to type it up at the end," said Coraline.

"Uh-huh," he answered.

Coraline peered at her dad's face. He looked exhausted. He had dark shadows under his eyes and the whites were blood shot. He'd broken a tooth a few weeks ago and had been to a dentist, and then got referred to a different dentist, who then referred him to a different dentist. They had all written him prescription for different medicines for pain. Her father hadn't gotten much work done during that time, and had to make up for it now. He spent more time than usual writing and writing. He looked irritated right now.

"Dad, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing, sweetie, I'm working," he answered.

"When are you going to be done?" asked Coraline. "I need help with my story."

"Coraline!" he snapped. Coraline tensed. Her dad looked _really _angry. "I need to work. Please go do your homework or something! Dinner's in the oven and will be ready in an hour."

"Okay," said Coraline, in a small voice. She left and moped off to her room.

Her father sighed. He couldn't focus on the article he was writing. He started to shake. He opened the door and pulled out a bottle of pills and stuck a couple in his mouth, following it down with a gulp of tea from his mug. After a bit, he started to feel better.

He knew he was in trouble.

**Okay, this story is going be in chapters, instead of a longer one shot. I hope you enjoy! As for the dentist thing, and getting all the pills, this happened to someone I know, and you can probably guess what's happening.**


	2. Chapter 2

** Coraline: Things Are Not As They Seem Chapter Two**

** Disclaimer: I don't own Coraline or Southern Comfort. I think you all know this. :)**

Coraline worked on her story for a bit and then went down for dinner. Her mother was quickly sticking a bottle of clear liquid back into the cupboard. She picked an opaque blue cup and took a gulp.

"Dinner is ready." Her eyes were blood shot.

Her father came in, looking annoyed. Dinner was burn chicken casserole with, horror of horrors, chunks of broccoli. Coraline spent ten minutes dissecting her portion and removing every speck of broccoli from it.

"Can't you just eat what I make and not whine or pick at it!?" her father snapped.

Coraline looked up, a mound of burnt, yet soggy broccoli on one side of her plate.

"You know I hate broccoli," she said. If she actually tried to eat it, it would literally make her nauseated. She had almost puked trying to eat it once.

Her father slammed his fist on the table. "Coraline, I go through the trouble of making dinner every night-you know what? Whatever, do whatever, I don't care."

Her mother gulped more of her drink. "Can you not yell at the table?"

"Can you shut up?"

They started arguing, her mother doing the exact thing she had just asked her father not to do: yell. It seemed to be about money. Coraline kept eyes down and nibbled her food.

She escaped as soon as she could and sat in her room, hearing them argue and yell in the kitchen, amidst the clattering of dishes being washed. Coraline heard name mentioned once, but couldn't distinguish any other words.

Cat tapped on the window. Coraline let him in and he sat next to her and gave her a sympathetic look.

Coraline finally went to the kitchen. "Can you please stop fighting?"

They stopped suddenly and looked at her.

"Mind your own business," said her mother. "We were just having a discussion."

Coraline wasn't aware that discussion involved screaming at one another.

She went back to her room to read book. Cat stayed with her, lounging on the bed, preening its fur for an hour straight.

In school, Coraline worked on her story. The teacher told her to use the dictionary went she wasn't sure how to spell something. They had to have a rough draft today. Coraline finally figured out how to spell "sausage" and it wasn't "sosage".

Basically, her story was about a girl who practiced real hard. She became a famous ballerina, performing all over the world. She became so rich, she decided to use the money and build kitchens for people all over the world so the hungry could come and eat, and never be hungry again. The teacher read the draft, and said it was a little unrealistic, but cute.

Her teammates, of course, ignored her and only talked with each other.

Coraline went home and went to her mother, who was sitting on the couch, typing on her laptop.

"Mum, can you read my story and tell me what you think?" she asked. "It's the first draft."

"Not now, I have to get this turned in." Her mother typed rapidly on an article.

"When will you be done?"

"Coraline, I'm busy!" her mother drank from a cup. She turned to Coraline and sighed. Coraline smelled something weird. "I'm busy, can't you see?"

Coraline slid off the couch and went to sit in the kitchen and finish her homework. Her mother came in, poured herself a glass of Coke, and added a lot liquid from a bottle up in the cupboard. She went back to the living room. Coraline went to the cupboard and opened it. The bottles were on the very top shelf. She climbed onto the counter and pulled them down, one by one, looking at them.

Tequila, vodka, rum, whiskey.

She remembered seeing these at a New Year's party. Everybody had been drinking and gotten a little tipsy. A lot of cabs had been called that night.

But her parents hadn't touched these since, why now?

She replaced the bottles and climbed down.

She went to see her father, who quickly shoved something into a drawer when she entered. He took a gulp of tea from his cup and looked at her.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

"I just wanted to see-"

"Go do your homework." He was shaking a bit.

Coraline sighed.

She had the same nightmare again. The end was different, however. She ran after her parents, but the Beldam grabbed her.

"Coraline, wait."

"NO!" shrieked Coraline.

"Coraline, you must listen to me."

The nails tapped the side of her face, impatient. Coraline squirmed and wiggled. "No, stop it!"

Coraline realized she was in. Something moved in the corner. It snaked toward the bed, faster, faster, faster, eyes glinting in the very faint light from the window, it jumped…

Cat came from the corner and jumped on the bed and gave her an annoyed look.

Coraline realized she had been crying. Her face and pillow were wet.

"Sorry I disturbed you," she told her furry friend. Cat licked a paw and then rubbed its face.

Coraline got up. Nobody else was up. She made coffee, a big cup with lots of cream. She felt exhausted.

She was half way through the funnies in the paper when her mother got up, a little earlier than usual and came slouching into the kitchen, her dressing gown on.

"Are you drinking coffee?" her mother snapped.

"I slept really bad," said Coraline.

Her mother snatched the cup angrily, sloshing coffee on the table. "I SAID NO COFFEE!"

"But, I just don't want to fall asleep in class."

"Did I ask for excuses?" her mother yelled. She dumped the coffee down the drain and then made herself a cup with liquid from the top shelf in the cupboard. She drank several mouthfuls straight from the bottle. She left the bottle on the counter and went to the living room to look at the news.

"Make yourself some cereal or something for breakfast," she called.

Coraline ate cold cereal, wondering why her mother and father were more irritable lately. She looked at the bottle on the counter. Whiskey.

She crept to the counter and picked the whiskey up. Southern Comfort, it said. She opened it and sniffed it. It smelled awful. She wondered what it tasted like. Must taste good, since her mother was constantly drinking this.

She poured a little bit into a cup and tasted it.

"Uggh!" It burned like fire going down; liquid fire. How could her mother stand this? She almost heaved into the sink and dumped the rest out of the cup and drank several gulps of water. Her throat still burned a bit.

"CORALINE!"

Her mother stomped in.

"I was just curious-"

SLAP.

Coraline reeled backwards, stunned. Her mother had never slapped her before. Her cheek stung.

"DON'T YOU _EVER _TOUCH THIS AGAIN!"

She poured more into a cup, added more coffee, and then went back to the living room.

Coraline started to cry and ran into the hallway. She looked at her face in the mirror. Her cheek was red.

She was looking at her reddened cheek when suddenly a bone white hand, with a long, sharp claw appeared, and it seemed to reach for Coraline.

Coraline shrieked and backed up. The Beldam appeared in the mirror.

"Coraaalllinnne."

Coraline screamed and the image vanished.

Her father stumbled from the bedroom.

"What are you screaming for!?"

Coraline realized she better not tell him a monster was in the house.

"Somebody is in the house!"

"Who? Where?"

Coraline pointed at the mirror, and then realized that sounded just as crazy. Nobody would believe a stranger was in the mirror.

Her father glared at her and then pushed her against the wall. Coraline pressed up against it, stunned.

"YOU WOKE ME UP FOR PRETEND-" he said a bad word, one Coraline wasn't supposed to say. He smacked her face, on the opposite side her mother had slapped.

Coraline sobbed and ran to her room. Cat was lounging on the bed. Coraline crawled under the blankets and cried. Cat nudged her face.

She cried and hugged the cat, something it normally didn't allow. Cat knew something was very wrong.

She laid there until her father yelled she better get to school.

She dressed and looked in her hand mirror. Her cheeks were a bit red, but not bruised. Nobody at school would probably say anything.

She was depressed at school. She didn't have any friends. Everybody was already in cliques, from previous grades. She was the new kid and nobody cared to talk to her. It didn't help that her school sweater was embarrassingly huge. She overheard someone in class muttering and giggling about it. Coraline thought she looked like on those bag ladies on the streets, the ones wore oversized clothes, pushed shopping trolleys full of garbage, and muttered to themselves, and occasionally yelled incoherently at innocent passerby.

When she got home, her mother slurred something at her and went to the living room. Coraline found her passed out on the couch later.

She went to her father's study, nervous. "Dad, Mum is passed out on the couch."

"Yeah, I know."

Coraline got close. Her father was drinking from a cup. Coraline smelled alcohol. She thought better of saying anything more and crept out.

Her father sighed and took some pills from a drawer. He needed more. He was almost out. He knew someone who would sell them to him. He got up and put some shoes and a jacket on. He felt okay to drive. He grabbed his wallet and checked to see if he had enough cash. Dinner would wait. Coraline could eat a pizza or whatever was in the freezer. He needed more pills, now.

He left the house.

Coraline heard him leave. She found a TV dinner and ate it, plus some ice cream from the freezer. Coraline went back to her room, afraid to look at the mirror on her way past. She clenched her eyes shut as she walked by and mumbled to herself that the Beldam was gone.

If she had opened her eyes, and had been quiet, she would have seen and heard the long nail scraping lightly inside the mirror.

Her father came back. He had been to the bar after meeting with a "friend". It was a wonder he hadn't been pulled over. Coraline heard him stumble to his study and swear, having banged his elbow or something on the doorframe.

Coraline doodled on a piece of paper and thought. In school, she learned drugs and alcohol were bad. Drugs made you hallucinate. So maybe alcohol did too. She _had _taken a sip of that horrible whiskey earlier. Maybe that was why she saw, or thought she saw, the Beldam in the mirror. Yes, that was it. The alcohol made her hallucinate.

But if that was true, how come her mother, who had drank a lot more, wasn't hallucinating and seeing Beldam's all over the house? Maybe alcohol affected people differently. Coraline was pretty sure she had read that somewhere. Coraline swore to never touch the stuff again. It tasted dreadful anyway.

She went to bed, and dreamed again.

The Other Father was standing in front of her.

"You ruined me. And now my power over her is done."

Coraline shook with fear. It was on those dreams where you couldn't move fast. Coraline felt like her limbs were filled with lead. She tried to run and it was in slow motion.

"YOU DESTROYED ME! YOU DESTROYED ME! YOU DESTROYED ME! YOU HORRIBLE GIRL!"

He lunged, his face growing pasty and long, his hands grew long nails, much longer than the Other Mother's and he lunged. Coraline shrieked and tried to run faster. She couldn't. The Other Father was growing closer. The claws reached, blood dripped from his teeth which had grown pointy, his button eyes bled blood. Fountains and fountains of it, spurting everywhere, drenching Coraline. She could taste it in her mouth and heaved. A hand grabbed her hair-claws scraped down her back, cutting the flesh. She could feel herself being dragged backward. The pasty, distorted face of the Other Father was in front of her. She could smell his putrid breath. The mouth stretched, teeth gleaming.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MINE! YOUR SOUL IS MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!"

The Other Father chanted the word in her face over and over. He grew more arms. They all grasped Coraline, claws sinking into her flesh, drawing blood. They surrounded her, clutching, scratching, choking…

No! No! No!

She tried to scream but a clawed hand clamped over her mouth. She struggled but the all the limbs tightened their grasp. More blood spurted from the Other Fathers eyes, blinding her. All she could see was red…blood, his, hers, everywhere. She heard a horrible cracking noise and felt teeth sink into her arm-

She heard a snarl and suddenly the limbs lost their grip. They slithered off and Coraline heard something hit the Other Father. Yells, snarls, screams of unbridled rage. Coraline remained collapse, trying to blink blood from her eyes. The red faded to black.

Coraline jerked and sat up. The Other Father attacked her. In the Other World, the Beldam had been controlling him. She'd turned him into a dreadful, pasty lump, and made him attack. Was the Beldam somehow controlling him again. But how could she? She was dead-

Or maybe she wasn't…

Coraline stood up and yanked her nightgown up. She looked at her body, expecting to see cuts and scrapes all over. She expected her limbs to be covered in blood. Nothing. She dropped the hem of her nightgown and felt her face. No cuts, no blood.

She took a deep shuddering breath. What was going on? It must be just a dream. She'd heard about people who lived through traumatizing events and would have nightmares and hallucinations for ages afterwards. She couldn't remember what it was called, but that must be the explanation. Yes, she'd lived through a traumatizing event, and was just suffering the after effects. Nothing could hurt her. She'd be fine.

"I'm okay," she whispered.

She went downstairs for breakfast. Despite telling herself it was nothing but her imagination running away with her, she couldn't look in the mirror, so she didn't seen anything that was it in.

Blood trickled down the inside of it. Coralines reflection was covered in blood.

Her mother was drinking coffee, alternating between the coffee cup, and the bottle. She took several sips and mumbled good morning to Coraline. Coraline really wanted coffee but didn't dare ask.

She ate Lieutenant Crunch, and stared into space.

"Stop chewing with your mouth open." Her father came in and slapped the back of her head. He took a pill bottle from his pocket and popped a few pills in his mouth and swallowed them, grabbing the liquor bottle from the table to wash them down.

Coraline's breath hitched. "Why do you hit me? And what are those pills?"

Her father glared at her, his eyes blood shot. He got close and Coraline smelled his fetid breath. It reminder of the Other Fathers breathe. She wished she hadn't said anything.

"They're Tylenol," he said. Coraline thought he was lying. "I need them because you give me a fricking headache with all your racket and questions!"

He smacked her and then shoved her from the chair. Coraline's head hit the edge.

"We never wanted you!" her father roared. "You were an accident! You're such a pain, always bother us when were working. We have to waste money on you for your stupid uniforms. You never like what I make. You have no appreciation. YOU'RE WORTHLESS!"

Her mother peered at her, seemingly unconcerned that her daughter was being abused by her husband. "I should have aborted you."

Coraline knew what abortion was. Her jaw dropped in horror.

She ran upstairs to cry.


	3. Chapter 3

**Coraline: Things Are Not As They Seem Chapter Three**

Coraline was so deep in her own miserable thoughts; a teacher had to call her name several times before she finally heard.

"What?"

The teacher scowled. "I asked you what answer you had for this math problem on the board."

"Ah, I-"

"You didn't even do it?"

"No."

Coraline had to write one hundred times, "I will pay attention in class, do my work, and not daydream."

She kept to herself at home. She only came downstairs for dinner.

The pork chops were burned to a cinder and the potatoes were a flavorless, soggy mush. Paper had more flavor than those potatoes. But Coraline remained quiet and choked it down.

Her father smacked her for eating so slow. He appeared drunk. Her mother was smashed as well and stumbled to the living room to type. Coraline had to do the dishes.

Coraline went to her mother, who was typing, misspelled words all over the page.

"I need to type my story up, and print it out."

"I need to work, leave me alone," her mother slurred.

Coraline went upstairs. She could get in trouble for not having her work done. Maybe she could type it up during lunch at school, in the library. She cried. Her parents were different. She missed how they used to be.

Coraline heard her parents start fighting. They were arguing about money. Her mother screamed something about her father spending money on drugs. He screamed at her for drinking. She screamed at him that he was drinking too and look who the hypocrite was. At least she wasn't mixing pills and drugs.

Coraline heard more shouting and then sounds like they were hitting each other.

Coraline curled up in bed sobbing, until she fell asleep.

She dreamed she was lying down, hurt. She couldn't see anything except blood. A cool hand touched her. The pain went away. A pair of hands cupped her face.

"You must stay strong, until he is gone. He will try one more time, gathering up the last vestiges of strength for one final attack. You must not succumb."

The voice was familiar. Coraline opened her eyes, expecting to see perhaps an angel or something similar.

Black button eyes stared down at her. Crimson lips smiled slightly, and snake like hair wiggled in an unfelt, unseen breeze.

Coraline awoke with a jump.

"Just a dream, just a dream," she muttered. "Why do I keep having them though?"

It was two in the morning, according to her alarm clock.

She crept into the hallway. Maybe she could get a snack.

She passed the mirror and saw something dark and swirling. She jumped and looked. Nothing. Just shadows.

At the end, she saw a small, dark shape. It crept along the wall and into sitting room where all her Grandma's furniture was.

"Cat!" she whispered. "Want a snack?"

There was some cheese in the refrigerator. Cat loved cheese, especially cheddar.

She went into the sitting room.

"Cat, let's get some cheese, come on!"

She flicked the light on.

The door was open.

And the bricks weren't boarding it up.

She froze. The door was supposed to be locked. And the bricks were supposed to be there, a solid barrier, blocking off the empty flat. Coraline shivered and started to back away.

Suddenly, long limbs came flying from the dark doorway, they were bone white, pasty, and deformed. The hands, with long nails, clenched her in there cold grasp. Coraline tried to scream, but an icy hand clamped itself over her mouth. Claws dug into her skin.

They began to drag…

Coraline frantically grabbed the arm of the couch. But her strength was no match. She felt herself sliding across the carpet. Panic made her stomach churn. The Other Mother was taking her back! She tried to dig her fingers in, but she felt herself being dragged further toward the door. Another hand grasped her arms, yanking them up. A final heave and Coraline was whisked from the room.

The door slammed shut.

**Dun dun dun! To be continued next chapter. Sorry, it's a short one, but the next one will be longer!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Coraline: Things Are Not As They Seem Chapter Four**

** The rat poems belong to Neil Gaimen; of couse; the other longer poems, are not mine at all either.****_ Luke Havergal_**** by Edward Arlington Robinson, is the first, except I changed a few things to suit the story of course. The second is****_ On the Eve of His Execution_** **by Chidiock Tichborne, also changed a bit. To see their original forms, you can find them on The Hyper Texts, a website with a bunch of Halloween type poems. The only poem bit that is mine is the end of the last one, starting with the verse Your death is sought here. I added my own bit to the poem, starting there, so it would fit with the first poem and make some sense...hopefully. :) **

Coraline felt herself land hard. The arms were gone. She blinked and struggled to get into a sitting position. She was in the hallway of the Other Mother's house. It didn't look the same as when she first had been here. It looked crummy, like when she found all the souls of the children and the house started to look like a child drawing. It looked that way now. The walls were lopsided. The picture of the boy with bubbles on the wall was just stick figure of a person with circles. Coraline felt a hysterical laugh rise in her throat, while at the same time, panic and fear almost made her throw up. She quickly pushed all these emotions down and stood up.

She had cuts on her body, where the claws had dug into her. Her clothes had jagged holes, the edges stained with blood. She took a deep breath and stepped forward. Would she have to play another game, or would the Other Mother just take her?

Maybe it was the Other Father. He had been in her dream. But she told herself it was probably the Other Mother controlling him. He hadn't really been mean on his own when Coraline had last been here. He wasn't even allowed to talk to her much.

Coraline stepped into the kitchen. It was empty. Coraline seen something pale move out the corner of her eye, but when she turned, nothing was there.

"Cooorraaaliiinnee…Cooooooooorraaalllliinne…"

Coraline heard a strange voice whisper her name. She couldn't tell whether it was a man or woman's voice.

A rat, misshapen, and bloated, scuttled into the room. Coraline stepped back. It was deformed, and look like it was sculpted from pale clay, by a person that really wasn't sure what a rat looked like. It opened its mouth showing long pointy teeth. Coraline wasn't sure if a rat was supposed to have that many. She also realized it had two tails. It was as big as Cat. That must have been what was in the hallway in her home.

The rat hissed and began to sing, standing on its hide legs and clasping it's disfigured hands.

_I have teeth and I have a tails_

_ I have tails and I have eyes_

_ I was here before you fell_

_ You will be here when I fall._

Coraline squeaked. A red line formed around its neck and the head fell off, looking rather like the rat that Cat had decapitated the last time she'd been there. The body well with a faintly stick splat.

More rats entered the kitchen, all as deformed as the other, with too many teeth, and an extra tail. They red eyes gleamed as they gathered in a circle around Coraline and began to sing, there crooked whiskers twitching.

_We are not small but we are many_

_ We are many but we are not small_

_ We were before you rose_

_ Will we be here after you fall?_

The rats began to melt, the sticky clay swirling but not collapsing to the ground. Instead, the ring of melted clay around Coraline slurped and dragged itself to the center of the crude kitchen. It rose up and began to take a new shape.

The Other Father stared at her with black button eyes and answered the question in the rat's song, his voice rasping and laughing.

"Of course!"

He lunged. Coraline was already running. She darted from the flat and went downstairs. She stumbled into Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's door and tried the handle. Just before she slammed it shut, she looked out and saw nothing. But it was likely a trick.

She turned around, afraid of what she would see next. It looked like a theater. There were dogs sitting in the seats. Like the rats, they looked to be made of clay and not well made. Some were missing ears or other body parts.

But on stage, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible were not performing.

The Other Mother was standing and singing softly.

_Go to the well Coraline Jones,_

_ There where the vines cling crimson on the wall,_

_ And in the twilight wait for what will come._

_ The leaves will whisper there of you, and some,_

_ Like flying words, will strike you as they fall;_

_ But go, and if you listen, I will call._

_ Go to the well Coraline Jones_

_ Coraline Jones_

Coraline was frozen horror. In here, there was the Other Mother, outside, was the Other Father. Who was worse?

The dogs woofed their approval, thumped their tails (those who had tails), and howled.

"Another! Another!"

_ My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,_

_ My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,_

_ My crop of corn is but a field of tares,_

_ Perhaps all my good is but vain hope of gain;_

_ The day is past, and yet I saw no sun,_

_ And now I live, and now my life and Coralines_

_ is almost done._

My tale was not heard and as yet it was not told,

_ My fruit is fallen, my leaves are not green,_

_ My youth is spent and I am near old,_

_ I saw many Other Worlds and yet I was not seen;_

_ My thread was woven and yet it now is un-spun,_

_ And now I live and now my life and Coralines_

_ is almost done._

My death was sought and found in my womb,

_ I looked for life and found it was a shade,_

_ I trod the Other World and knew it was my tomb,_

_ And now I die, and now I was but made;_

_ My glass is full, and now my glass is run,_

_ And now I live, and now my life and Coralines_

_ is almost done._

_ Your death is sought and found here_

_ Terribly so, your life from you _

_ He will irrevocably and cruelly tear_

_ Regardless of what we try to do_

_ Unless you listen and to the well run,_

_ And now I live, and now my life and Coralines_

_ Is almost done._

The dogs howled and woofed, some stuffed chocolates in their mouth, tails wagging like metronomes.

The Other Mother stared at Coraline, who realized ropes of clay held her limbs to the stage. Odd.

Coraline dithered, not knowing where to go. In here: Other Mother. Outside: Other Father. Likely result of dealing with either: Death.

A bad and unpleasant choice, regardless.

"Go, Coraline," whispered the Other Mother.

"Go, Coraline," the dogs chanted. "Go Coraline."

"Be quiet! Be quiet! Be quiet! Be quiet!"

Coraline heard the Other Fathers voice thunder in the building. "SHUT UP! YOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO HER!"

The dogs growled and began to melt, their sticky formless selves now slithering toward Coraline…


	5. Chapter 5

**Coraline: Things Are Not As They Seem Chapter Five**

"Go to the well, Coraline," the Other Mother whispered, straining at the clay ropes.

Coraline wouldn't listen to anything the Other Mother said. Following her instructions would lead to a trap.

But the dogs, now melted clay, swooshed toward Coraline. She opened the door, and bolted outside, the clay followed, slithering across the ground.

"STOP IT!" shouted the Other Mother, faintly from the stage.

Coraline felt something sticky wrap around her ankle. She fell and the clay quickly crept up her leg, engulfed both of them. She tried to get up but couldn't and she scraped her fingers across the ground, trying to drag herself away across. The clay continued to spread up her body, to her neck, her head, across her face, her breathing was cut off. She scratched at her face, trying to remove the clay. She needed to breathe! Now ! Air!

She couldn't get the clay off, her limbs felt heavy, her chest heaved to take in oxygen that wasn't there. She could feel herself fading…

Dimly, she heard a frightening snarl. Something hit her body hard. The clay began to recede. Coraline felt air hit her face. Her body automatically responded and she sucked in a deep breath. Oxygen flood her body and brain her vision became less foggy. She inhaled in more and more, thinking how wonderful it is to be able to breathe.

The clay slid off her and formed into the Other Father. The Other Mother was there, the clay ropes torn from the stage, they ends dangling from her wrists. The Other Father looked between them for a moment and then lunged for Coraline. The Other Mother leaped on him, and they rolled on the grounds. Claws slashed and blood flew.

"The well, Coraline, run for the well!" the Other Mother was shouting.

Coraline didn't know what else to do, so she got up and ran for the well that was much farther away. She ran across the tennis court, which was basically crudely drawn lines. The net was broken and hung limp, looking like childish charcoal scribbles.

The well was the only thing that looked proper and well made. It was almost the same in as in her world, except there weren't any planks covering it. Coraline peered inside and there was water. It shimmered slightly and Coraline seen something, like a picture, but it was too fuzzy to make out. The badly made leaves of the surrounding trees shifted and Coraline heard name being whispered from somewhere. There seemed to be a thin haze surrounding the well, like a circle. Coraline felt it vaguely move when she stepped through it. Some sort of magic shield, maybe?

Red vines wrapped around the stone of the well. It appeared to be getting dark a bit. She didn't know what to do, except watch the Other Mother and the Other Father battle it out.

And battle they did. The Other Father rose up to about seven feet tall, his clayish features shifting. His claws dripped red from the Other Mothers blood. The Other Mother's claws were just as red. She swelled and grew.

"You're power is running out," she snarled. "You've spent too much, holding me back and trying to get the girl."

"I need more!" The Other Father roared and around Coraline, the world got cruder. The trees became scribbles of green and brown. The house looked a like lopsided box with two lines coming to a point for a roof. It shrunk further and the lines began to fade, until it looked like a faint pencil drawing, and then nothing at all.

Everything had faded. The only thing remaining was the well, still solid and proper looking, the vines caressing the side. Everything else was misty grayish white. Nothing.

The Other Mother rose to the height of twelve feet, her button eyes glinted menacingly, her snake hair waved and rippled.

The Other Father lunged and tried to cover her in clay, but the Other Mother tore at his body. Shreds of clay mixed with blood flew, landing in the mist, and began to dissolve. The Other Father screamed in pain and frustration and renewed his onslaught, but he seemed to be running out of power. The Other Mother scythed her nails through the Other Father one last time, rending his body to pieces. A great fountain of blood spurted into the air which dissolved into nothing.

He was gone.

Two buttons fell gently down and dissolved in a wisp of black smoke. It wafted, twirled, and drifted up and then dissipated.

Now it was just Coraline and the Other Mother.

The Other Mother glided toward Coraline, nails dripping with crimson blood. She was covered in it as well.

Coraline trembled and whispered to herself, with lips that seemed to had gone numb and cold.

"Goodbye Mum and Dad. Goodbye Cat."

Hopefully it would quick. Hopefully her death would be painless. It was coming. She seen a wisp of herself, trapped in the closet, a husk of herself, forgetting her name, her life, whether she was even a boy or a girl. An eternity of darkness and loneliness, gone from the world forever, trapped in limbo.

The Other Mother was very close now. She raised a hand. Coraline flinched and trembled. So close now, death was at hand. She puked a little in her mouth, she was so horrified. She tasted bile, she tasted death.

The clawed hand swished through the air. Coraline clenched her eyes. In a moment, they would tear through her skin. She wouldn't scream, wouldn't give the Other Mother that satisfaction…

The claws touched-Coraline's body froze, the pain was coming-

A cool, gentle hand caressed her cheek.

Coraline peeked one eye open and then another. The Other Mother was shrinking down. She sunk to the height of Coralines own mother and her features changed. The black buttons fell away to reveal real human eyes. They shown a greenish brown and the hair melded into soft, brown human hair. She really did look a bit like Coralines own mother. Her features became fully human along with the rest of her body, except for the one thing that appeared on her back.

"Hello, Coraline."

It was a trick, just a trick.

"I'm your Other Mother, darling," said the Other Mother. "I'm glad you're safe."

"You're going to sew buttons onto my face," said Coraline, shivering and too scared to step back, despite her dislike of the hand touching her face.

"He's gone, sweetie," said the Other Mother. "Never will he harm you again. I'm finally free of his grasp. It's been so long, I almost forgot what it felt like."

"W-what?" Coralines voice sounded cracked.

"He's was an Other World Crawler," said the Other Mother. "He came, ages ago, and took over me, controlled me, started to distort me until I almost forgot who I was. He used me to get children, including-"

Her voice hitched.

"You-you're not evil?" asked Coraline, her voice strangled.

The Other Mother frowned. "No, Coraline. I'm you Other Mother, I would never willingly hurt you. Things were not as they seemed."

"Huh?"

The Other Mother sighed. "Maybe I should explain, sit on the edge, don't fall in yet though. Let me tell what you happened."

Coraline sat, dumbfounded. She barely remembered to close her mouth, which had been hanging open. The Other Mother sat, smoothing her dress which seemed to be made of moon rays and spider silk. It shimmered gray and white. Coraline also realized she had a circlet of silver on her head. She spoke.

"I'm and Other World Makers and an Other Mother. Other World Makers live in a different realm than yours. We create our own worlds, and live peacefully. Some of us are Other Mothers, which means we are destined to protect certain ones from trouble. Some children are born with the ability to enter into other worlds. Some find their ability by accident, others go there whole lives, never knowing. When someone does find their way in, the Other Mother protects the child and sends it to the world it's actually supposed to be. There are creatures called Other World Crawlers. They are created of human hate and anger. When humans go to war and fight and kill each other, fear, hate and anger are bred, and these emotions are sent into the worlds and sometimes it manifests itself into something physical. It becomes an Other World Crawler. Normally when they are created, we Other Mothers and Other World Makers find and destroy them. This one, the one you think of as the Other Father, was one. He was created shortly after Henry the Eighths reign."

"I remember learning of him in history," said Coraline. "He had a bunch of wives."

"Yes," said The Other Mother. "After his death, his daughter Mary later took the thrown and had tons of people killed in her own country for being the wrong religion and reasons like that. Fear, hate, and anger was bred. It became and Other World Crawler. He came into my world and destroyed somebody-" her voice hitched again-"and took over me. He forced me to destroy two other children. A boy with the ability to go between Worlds, went through the scullery door in his home and into my world." Coraline remembered the boy in britches. "A servant girl with the ability came in through a door of a guest room, in a Lords House." Coraline thought of the girl in the brown dress and bonnet. "The Other Father controlled me and made me take their hearts and souls. They became wisps of memories, trapped in my house, until you released them."

"So," began Coraline, slowly, "the children can go into the worlds, and you're supposed to return them home?"

"Yes," said the Other Mother. "There are vast, innumerable realms and worlds. If the child has a bad life, for example, we put them in another realm similar to their own, but where they'll have a better life."

"Why?" asked Coraline.

The Other Mother smoothed her dress again. "Some children, due to their ability, are born in the wrong realm. The soul, traveling through space and time to where it's to be born, ends up lost and ends up being born in the wrong realm. If they find their way into an Other Mother's world, she can put them in the right realm. That's our purpose mostly. Although, the child must find their way to our world. Some never do, and then we are unable to help them. A lot of the Other World Makers become Other Mother's at some point in their life, often for many children. The children that ended up in my world, I was supposed to help them, set them in there right realms, but with the Other Father controlling me, I could not, and I ended up destroying them. It was lucky you came along and set them free."

"But you wanted to sew buttons into my eyes," said Coraline.

"The Other Father was controlling me," said the Other Mother. "I would never do that of my own accord."

Coraline remembered something.

_"If you want to stay," said her other father, "there's only one little thing we'll have to do, so you can stay here for ever and always."_

_ On a china plate on the kitchen table was a spool of black cotton, and a long silver needle, and, beside them, two large black buttons._

The Other Father had been the one to suggest the black button eyes.

"The buttons are used to cover your eyes, because they are the windows to the soul," said the Other Mother. "He takes the soul and uses it as power and then sews the buttons on so the body is stuck without it and can't be returned. The person turns into an empty husk. He used the souls of the two children and the other, and used that as his power. He sewed buttons onto my eyes to try and keep the spell on me. This is only the second time in history an Other World Crawler has succeeded in taking over an Other Mother. One happened, thousands of years ago, but I don't know the details. He's gone now, so someone found a way to defeat him."

"What about your hand, trying to get the key?" asked Coraline. "I was in the corridor and we shut the door on your, and your handle followed."

The Other Mother sighed. "Well, the Other Father never had anybody escape from him, and he needed your soul to power up again in a quick manner, so he made try to attack you, and when my hand was removed, he made it follow into the home. If he could get the key, it would be easier to lure you back into this world. In a way, you helped it be able to get you again."

"What?" asked Coraline, confused and shocked

"The well," said the Other Mother simply. "It's a portal. If someone fell in, they would just be trapped at the bottom of course. But they key, being magic, and my hand, also magic, was able to travel through and back to this world. You did the tea party with your dolls and set the key in the middle of the cloth, so when my hand grabbed it and fell into the well with the key, it just ended up back in my world. I got my hand back and the Other Father had the key again. However, you greatly weakened his power, setting free the other children. His grasp on me weakened a bit, and I was able to try to reach you in your dreams, to try and warn you. He tried to attack you in your dream as well. I attacked him back, and if he had succeeded in killing you in the dream, you would have died in real life. He left injuries on you, severe ones, which would have killed you in a matter of days in the real world, but I healed you."

"You frightened me terribly," said Coraline. "I saw you in the mirror."

"Sorry," replied the Other Mother. "I was trying to talk to you and warn you, but you freaked out, understandably. He finally managed to regain a little power and snatched you back here, but the attacks and bringing you back where weakening him. I finally managed to escape the stage and with his power lessening, my started to grow once more and I was able to defeat him."

"How did he get a hold you in the first place, if you're supposed to be powerful?" asked Coraline.

The Other Mother sighed and picked at imaginary lint on her dress. "I had a daughter of my own."

"A daughter?" asked Coraline.

"When evil, hate, and anger are in the world, in can manifest into and Other World Crawler," she finally said. "But when goodness, kindness and love, manifest in the world, it can turn into something good. That's how us Other World Makers and Other Mothers are created in the first place. Enough formed, several hundred years ago, and it turned into a young girl, my daughter. I named her Gem, because that was what she was to me, a beautiful, lovely gem, made of the best things from the human world. She lived with me for centuries, and was to take over when I passed away. Then the Other World Crawler came, he managed to find her and get to her first and took over her. With her soul, he was powerful enough to take over me, and he made me sew buttons onto my own daughter's lifeless body and then she turned into a husk and was gone."

The Other Mother wiped tears away.

Coraline's jaw dropped again. That was why the one girl of the three children she'd saved was different. She'd had butterfly like wings. The Other Mother had wings too, now that she was in her real form. Coraline always wondered where that girl had come from. She obviously wasn't human,and, at the picnic, ate flowers instead of normal food like everyone.

"She said nothing to me of it," said Coraline. "She went with the other two kids over the bridge."

"She was put under a spell beforehand," said the Other Mother. "She wouldn't be able to remember anything of it until it was broken. I'm sure she remembers now."

"I'm sorry," said Coraline. "I'm sorry you lost your daughter."

"I'll be with her soon," said the Other Mother. "I haven't got long to live anymore."

"Why?" asked Coraline. Now that she knew the Other Mother, she liked her.

"Oh, by your terms, I've still got plenty of life in me," said the Other Mother. "I've got about another seventy to eighty years or so left in me. But I've been alive for centuries, so seventy or so years doesn't seem a like a whole lot of time to have left."

"So what now?" asked Coraline.

"Well, I believe you need to go home," said the Other Mother.

"I don't want to!" said Coraline, tears welling up. "I'd rather stay with you! My father is on drugs and they're drinking, and they don't want me. They've started hitting me. My mother told me she wished she had aborted me."

The Other Mother hugged her close. "Darling, did you forget what I said? You're soul, having the ability to go to the Other Worlds, ended up in the wrong realm. The Earth you landed on was the wrong one. In that one, your parents didn't want children and were bound to end up that way. Since you came here, I can send you to the proper one, where you parents aren't alcoholics or drug addicts. They'll love you and want you forever. The only problem is your father will still make recipes, although hopefully in this world, the food won't end up as over or under cooked."

Coraline laughed through her tears. "I can handle it."

"So, I can send you home now, your new home, I guess I should say."

"But, if I wasn't there before, how will I explain being there now?" asked Coraline.

The Other Mother touched the surface of the well water. It shimmered, showing her home. "When you arrive, the realm will shift so it will as though you've always been there. Nobody will know a thing. In your previous realm, it will be as if you never were there. Oh, and I need to fix this."

She waved her hand at the nothingness mist. Suddenly the house reappeared, and the grounds. The house was perfect and normal looking. The sun shone and Coraline could feel the warmth of it on her face. The sky was blue, the trees were green and shifted in a gently breeze. The Other Mother waved her hands again, and in the distance, great pyramids rose up, like the ones Egypt."

"That looks more interesting," said the Other Mother. "I wish Gem was here, she would love to go exploring in them. She was a bit like you, Coraline. I wish you could stay here too, but you belong in your realm."

She turned to Coraline and hugged her.

"Can I come visit you?" asked Coraline.

"No, once you're in your own realm, you can't come back," the Other Mother answered. "And don't be jumping down the well on the grounds, you'll just be stuck at the bottom."

"I'll miss you," said Coraline. "You saved my life and now you're sending me to my proper home."

"I know darling," said the Other Mother.

The Other Mother explained what to do.

Coraline got into the well, the water was comfortable. She held onto the edge of the well. Coraline could see shimmering images of her own home, her new home, in the water.

"Goodbye," said Coraline.

"Goodbye, my darling," said the Other Mother.

Coraline let go and allowed herself to slip fully into the water. Images of home swirled around her and the water began to disappear. Coraline was drifting through nothing.

She heard the Other Mother whisper something.

"I'll see you again, soon, Coraline."

Coraline slipped from consciousness and suddenly opened her eyes. She was in her bed.

At home.

Everything looked the same. She got up and looked out the window. It was drizzling, but the rain was letting up, and a the clouds drifting off. The sun came out and a rainbow formed.

Stunned, she walked through the house. Her father and mother were in the kitchen, sipping coffee and eating fish and chips from a local shop.

"Hello, Coraline," said her mother. "There's yours on the table." She pointed to a take-away box, steam slipping out the edges.

Coraline ran to her parents and hugged them both. "You're okay!"

Her parents looked a little confused. "Of course, we are, why wouldn't we be."

"You'd never become an alcoholic, or start doing drugs would you?" asked Coraline.

They looked shocked. "No, never sweetie. What's gotten into you?"

Coraline thought fast. "I read a book at the library about how bad drugs and alcohol can be."

Her parents didn't question further.

Her parents looked healthy and happy. She knew they wouldn't abuse her. In this realm, she was wanted and loved.

They still worked a lot, but they made time to take Coraline out for walks, the movies, and just spent time with her. They helped her with her school work and even at school, she was able to make some friends for a change.

Life was good.

Years later, a very old Coraline lay in bed, surrounded by her family, which included her husband, daughter, and grandson. She was nearly ninety years old, and had lived a good, long life.

She'd said her goodbyes and knew her time was near.

She closed her eyes.

She was in a meadow. Looking down at herself, she realized she was young girl again. Gone was the wrinkled exterior and thin, gray her. She was young and new again.

There was a cloth with food set upon it. Two people were waiting.

It was Gem and her mother, the Other Mother, their butterfly wings shining.

"You're here!" said Coraline.

"Hello, darling," said the Other Mother rising to hug her.

"You found each other!" said Coraline.

"Well, my time came a couple of your Earth years ago, and my daughter was waiting for me, so we decided to wait for you," said the Other Mother.

Gem smiled. "It's all thanks to you Coraline. You rescued my soul and that of those two other children, and thus weakened the Other World Crawlers power, which allowed my Mother to eventually escape. When the spell was broken, I remembered her for what she was, my Mom."

The picnic was set with sandwiches, chocolate milk, fruit, lemonade, and ice cream. The Other Mother and Gem had different colored flowers on their plates.

They ate with relish, enjoying their foods.

"It's time," said the Other Mother.

"What happens now?" asked Coraline.

"We go over the bridge," said Gem. "It's paradise. Come, we'll all go together. Your parents are waiting Coraline."

Coraline took their hands, and went across the field to a bridge.

Coraline could see the paradise on the other side.

The happy trio began to cross the bridge.

**The End.**

** I figured I'd finally give Coraline a happy ending, since in my other one shots, the end results were always rather horrible. :)**


End file.
